‘House of the Dragon’ Recap: Epic TV You Can’t Look Away From
The following story contains spoilers for season 2, episode 4, "A Dance of Dragons."
"THIS IS ALWAYS what you wanted, isn’t it?”
That declaration from Milly Alcock’s younger version of Rhaenyra is just as much of a treatise to the audience as it is to Daemon (Matt Smith). The legacy of Game of Thrones is just as much about the battle sequences as the character development at its core. With Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent (Olivia Cooke) unable to come to an understanding in last week’s episode, the Dance of the Dragons is officially underway—and House of the Dragon wastes no time in getting down to business. War is here, and it has claimed victims accordingly.
Written by showrunner Ryan Condal and directed by HBO stalwart Alan Taylor, this week’s episode kicks off the battle of Rook’s Rest around the 33-minute mark and never relents. What unfolds is brutal, even by franchise standards. When the dust settles, we’re left with the definitive death of Rhaenys (Eve Best) and the possible death of Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) at the hands of Aemond (Ewan Mitchell). After last week, it appears the younger son of Alicent took Aegon’s insults personally, paying back his revenge tenfold.
What remains now that the fire and the flames have died down? Let’s break down the most eventful episode of House of the Dragon yet.
Daemon’s Trippy Harrenhal Trip
Poor Daemon. It’s hard to find complete sympathy for perhaps the biggest devil in the series, and yet, since arriving at the cursed Harrenhal, the great swordsman is facing his biggest demons. Alcock is back, after her splashy return last week, to dole out some more wisdom about where Daemon’s head is at before he has a lengthier conversion with Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin).
Alys does a good job of giving a little more context on Harrenhal’s tortured past in addition to the download we got last week. That is to say, combined with the comments about the castle in the King’s Landing small council meeting, Harrenhal is probably going to lead to Daemon’s downfall! It’s worth noting that not a single person in Westeros history (we hear about this in Thrones) was able to retain Harrenhal. Daemon’s current presence may not signal an immediate demise, but the longer he stays, the more that’s in jeopardy.
That’s perhaps best evidenced by the fact he wakes up with no context as to how he’s ended up at the table with the Brackens, only to see his late wife Laena (Nanna Blondell) pouring drinks. Leaning into the weirdness of Harrenhal is such a clever way to give Matt Smith emotionality to play against, especially given the fact he’s isolated from so much of the action elsewhere. It also mirrors the war in the sense that it’s bound to get much worse before it gets better.
Alicent’s Spiral
You ever reconnect with an old bestie only for it to go horribly wrong, and you start to spiral, and things get even worse? That’s Alicent’s last 24 to 48 hours, combined with the fact she’s pregnant with Cole’s baby. History hangs heavy over Alicent in this episode, from the literalization of her thumbing through old texts or her reconnecting with Larys (Matthew Needham) for the first time in a while. And it’s only going to get worse.
Alicent, on some level, is directly responsible for sending Aegon out to battle. What’s heartbreaking about what she says to him is the fact that none of it is wrong. Aegon’s brash behavior has resulted in a decidedly mixed bag of a reign. Stringing up the ratcatchers killed any goodwill he may have garnered with the smallfolk, but appointing Cole is already paying off tenfold as he takes the Riverlands without much of a fight. And yet, he’s undermined at every single turn. And instead of finding solace in his mother, he finds another person who isn’t on his side.
“You have no thought to the centuries of knowledge in those pages,” Alicent snarls to him. It’s true; Aegon’s disregard for, well, everything, puts him in a position where he’s a joke. It’s such a different shade from Joffrey, who was so menacing. Aegon is a clown, and this episode hammers that home by having him get repeatedly owned for its entire run time.
Yet, the one image that’s most striking to me about Alicent this week comes in her conversation with Larys, who seemingly identifies that she’s scouring the history books for something. It’s interesting how Alicent is resigned now to let the pieces fall where they may when she declares that “the significance of Viserys’s intentions died with him” — and Larys then literally closes the book on the subject. What’s done is done.
The Battle of Rook’s Rest is a Brutal, Bloody Start to Civil War
When Aemond emerged naked from that brothel bed last week, he may as well have been born again. Any sort of weakness is seemingly now gone, replaced instead by an absolutely killer instinct. When Aemond and Vhagar get the chance to attack Rhaenys and Aegon together, there’s no hesitation; it’s on sight as he unleashes the old beast upon them both. That’s not to say that Vhagar herself doesn’t get a little wounded in the battle, but otherwise, Rook’s Rest is unequivocally a win for Aemond. If Aegon is even alive enough to function, he’s certainly in no state to be ruling anytime soon.
Given how things went in the small council meeting, Aemond was already running the show. Now, he’ll likely get to do it in a formal capacity. But what does this mean for the rest of the realm? Aemond isn’t one to forget a slight, that much is abundantly clear. Does he keep it together or fold like Aegon did?
I think what’s so captivating about how the battle is shot is that the size, scale, and horror of the trio of dragons are really at play. We see the real-time effects of what it means to have these dragons in the mix in a way that feels much different than how it was in Game of Thrones. There’s a visceral horror to having these creatures in the mix, and it’s only going to escalate the more of them that get involved.
Rhaenys’s death is about as good as one can ask for in this violent world. But Rhaenyra’s council is going to miss the wisdom and guiding force she was. Without Daemon or Rhaenys, the walls are closing in on Rhaenyra. What happens when you corner a dragon?
Odds & Ends
The focus on Aemond picking up Aegon’s dagger is very intentional. Remember, when put to flame, the blade details information about the Song of Ice and Fire. Between Aemond having ownership of it and Alicent knowing the prophecy, it’s likely only a matter of time before someone as shrewd as Aemond figures it all out.
After a few weeks of treading water, the Velaryon plot is really starting to pick up. It was nice to see Corlys (Steve Toussaint) come to Rhaenys’s aid and for them to share a quiet moment together before her death. But the show needs to move this plot to the front of the stove before it stalls out completely. Fortunately, the reveal that Alyn is one of Corlys’s bastards should (hopefully) kick things up a notch.
Alan Taylor’s impact on the larger Game of Thrones television landscape can’t be understated, having directed a handful of critical episodes, including the first two season finales. But it’s nice to have him back to direct a big battle sequence, which he crushes. I cannot get over how well-paced and executed the back half of the episode is.
I didn’t dive into her too much last week, but it’s always nice to see Gayle Rankin pop up in projects. While I enjoyed her in the Perry Mason reboot—and, naturally, GLOW—she’s already on fire here. I love the energy she’s bringing to Alys.
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